A review by lizardgoats
The Children of Hamlin by Carmen Carter
5.0
With the title and the basic plot as guide (planet is destroyed by music-loving aliens and only the children are saved) this story is an obvious allusion to the nursery rhyme "The Pied Piper of Hamlin." Intertwining the two stories--a 50-yr-old tragedy and the resettlement of a technology-averse people--makes for an interesting narrative on communication.
How do vastly different species/ideologies/hierarchies communicate effectively with each other? What happens when language fails to communicate what the individuals want, not what's best for the group?
These are just some of the questions touched on in this story, but I think the real shine comes from the crews interactions with each other. Carmen Carter did a great job capturing the voices of Enterprise crew. She even goes so far as to extend the narrative of miscommunication to them and their relationships with each other--harkening back to Jack Crusher's death as an impediment between Picard and Dr Crusher's friendship and Wesley Crusher's narrative of himself as a boy without a father.
Also it's really nice to see Wesley have a friend his own age, even if for a short period of time. In the series he is nearly always alone, the only child in a room of adults. It was nice to see him as just a kid for once.
As as side note, I would've loved to see this story as a TOS book. It would've been amazing to see Uhuru, our canon linguist, learning the musical language of the Charaii in order to communicate with them. I can see why TNG was chosen (pretty sure there is already a TOS book the revolves around this idea) and it does work well in the TNG universe. It just fits so well with Uhuru's character that I can't help myself from imagining.
How do vastly different species/ideologies/hierarchies communicate effectively with each other? What happens when language fails to communicate what the individuals want, not what's best for the group?
These are just some of the questions touched on in this story, but I think the real shine comes from the crews interactions with each other. Carmen Carter did a great job capturing the voices of Enterprise crew. She even goes so far as to extend the narrative of miscommunication to them and their relationships with each other--harkening back to Jack Crusher's death as an impediment between Picard and Dr Crusher's friendship and Wesley Crusher's narrative of himself as a boy without a father.
Also it's really nice to see Wesley have a friend his own age, even if for a short period of time. In the series he is nearly always alone, the only child in a room of adults. It was nice to see him as just a kid for once.
As as side note, I would've loved to see this story as a TOS book. It would've been amazing to see Uhuru, our canon linguist, learning the musical language of the Charaii in order to communicate with them. I can see why TNG was chosen (pretty sure there is already a TOS book the revolves around this idea) and it does work well in the TNG universe. It just fits so well with Uhuru's character that I can't help myself from imagining.